Roof gutter



Dec. 14, 1965 K. KVAN 3,222,828

ROOF GUTTER Filed April 16, 1963 United States Patent Denmark Filed Apr. 16, 1963, Ser. No. 273,496 1 Claim. (CI. 52-11) This invention relates to a roof gutter of the kind in which the gutter itself is constituted of a plastic material, such as P.V.C., whereas the supporting members are in the form of iron bands of how shape.

The reason for using plastic material for the roof gutter proper instead of the usual sheet zinc is that the life of the gutter will be subsantially increased since the plastic material is not corroded by the substances which destroy roof gutters of zinc by corrosion. In certain known roof gutters of the aforesaid kind, band iron supports are used of the same kind as the iron supports which are used for zinc gutters and provided with locking means for retaining the gutter. The said locking means consist of riveted webs or tabs or thin, flexible iron bands which can be bent over the gutter at its outer and inner edge. It has been found, however, that such locking means are subject to intense corrosion, particularly in the facing upwards parts, due to the precipitation from smoke and the like which contains large amounts of sulphuric acid, originating in particular from oil furnaces, due to the said corrosion, particularly in big cities, the locking means is destroyed in comparatively short time and the life of the roof gutter is foreshortened as compared to the life of the gutter itself.

It is an object of the invention to provide a roof gutter of the aforesaid kind which has supporting means constituted of iron bands and in which the life of the roof gutter may correspond substantially to the life of the plastic gutter proper.

A roof gutter of the kind in which the gutter itself is of plastic, such as P.V.C., and the supporting members are iron bands shaped as bows in which the gutter rests, the bows at the inner edge of the gutter have projections for abutment against the inner edge of the gutter, the outer edge of the gutter is bent outwardly to provide a substantially horizontal flange, below this flange in the surfaces of the gutter and the bows contacting each other such tongue and groove means being provided that when the gutter with the inner edge abutting the projections in the bows is pressed down in the bows they can snap into cooperation with each other and maintain the gutter in the bows by elasticity.

The construction according to the invention is especially adapted for the special requirements arising from using plastic gutters in connection with its mounting in supporting members consisting of iron bands. In the construction according to the invention the gutter can be arranged in the supporting members by a simple pressing operation where the elastic plastic gutter by snapaction will be mounted safely in the supporting members. The horizontal flange constitutes a reinforcement for the outer edge of the gutter and at the same time covers and protects the iron member. When the inner edge of the gutter is laid against the abutment it can be pressed down into the arch shaped member whereby the locking means by snap-action are engaged and the gutter is mounted.

In a suitable embodiment of a roof gutter according to the invention the outer end of each bow may be bent inwards to form an inward-projecting bead which is received in a recess formed by a hook-like outward-bent part of the gutter.

This construction has the advantage that the bow is of simple form, the guide member being formed by the extreme bent edge section.

3,222,828 Patented Dec. 14, 1965 In the following description, various embodiments of a roof gutter according to the invention will be described with reference to the drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a part of a gutter mounted in an iron band bow,

FIGURE 2 is a cross-section of the gutter of FIG. 1 on enlarged scale,

FIGURE 3 is a cross-section of a part of a gutter according to a further embodiment, and

FIGURE 4 is a cross-section of a gutter according to a still further embodiment.

In the embodiment disclosed in FIGURES l2 the roof gutter consists of a plastic gutter portion 1 and having in usual manner a cross-section of semi-circular shape. At the outer edge of the edge section of the gutter is bent to form a hook-like profile, thus forming an inward-projecting groove 2 and an upper horizontal flange 3.

The roof gutter is supported bysupporting means 4 and consisting of a bow-shaped member 5 of a curvature conforming to the curvature of the gutter portion 1 and an inwardly bent edge section 6 forming a bead which is received in the groove 2 and is covered by the horizontal flange 3.

At the inner edge of the gutter the supporting member has a forwardly extending bead 7 which engages the inner edge of the gutter portion 1 so that the gutter portion is guided by the bead 7. The supporting member has in usual manner a straight section 8 adapted for attachment to the roof surface, for example by nails or the like.

The construction according to FIGURE 1 has the advantage that the metal supporting member 5 may be simply fabricated, the bead 6 being formed by merely bending the end section of the supporting member 5. That part of the supporting member which is chiefly exposed to corrosion is covered by the horizontal flange 3 so that corrosion is substantially reduced. The gutter can be readily introduced into the supporting member by slightly bending the gutter portion 1 which is resilient.

The construction according to FIGURE 3 is somewhat more complicated than the construction according to FIG- URES 1-2, in that the supporting iron has a groove 9 in which a rib 10 provided on the edge of the gutter portion 5 is received. This construction has, however, the advantage over the construction according to FIGURES 1-2 that the total width of the gutter is not reduced by the inwardly bent part of the gutter according to FIGURE 1. Thus the inner surface of the gutter portion is a smooth continuous semi-circle in the embodiment of FIG. 3.

In the construction according to FIGURE 4 the projection 7 is formed as a hook extending down in front of the inner edge section of the gutter so as to ensure a very efiicient attachment.

It is, of course, possible to use other supporting members than that of iron bands while remaining within the scope of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A gutter comprising an elongated gutter member of substantially semi-circular cross-section with upper edges, said gutter member being constituted of plastic material and being relatively flexible, and a supporting member for said gutter member, said supporting member being a rigid metal member including a portion of bow shape in which the gutter member is supported such that the outer surface of the gutter member is in contact with the inner surface of the supporting member, said supporting member including a straight portion located adjacent one of the edges of the gutter member and enabling the connection of the gutter -to a support, said supporting member further including a bead extending inwardly over the said one edge of the gutter member, said supporting memher having an upper terminal horizontal edge disposed at a diametrically opposed location from said straight portion, sa-id gutter member at the other of the edges thereof including a horizontal flat flange extending outwardly over the said upper terminal edge of the supporting member in face to face relation to entirely cover the same, said gutter member having an inward recess at the outer surface thereof below the said flat flange, said recess being bounded on one side by said flat flange, said supporting member including an inwardly extending projection 10 at the inner surface thereof disposed at the said upper terminal edge, said inwardly extending projection having an upper horizontal surface which is a continuation of the said upper terminal edge, said projection and recess having conforming shapes with the projection being accommodated snugly in the recess and defining a tortuous path for entry of a fluid between the gutter member and the supporting member, said gutter member being sufiiciently flexible for providing elastic snap-engagement of the projection into the recess when said one edge of the gutter member is positioned beneath said bead and the gutter member is pressed into the support member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 88,626 4/1860 Gillespie 248-482 285,292 9/1883 McMasters M 24848.2 869,195 10/1907 Patchin 248-482 2,975,561 3/1961 Branham 509 X FOREIGN PATENTS 159,648 10/1940 Austria. 696,211 8/1953 Great Britain. 841,369 7/1960 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES American Roofer, pp. 36 and 37, February 1957.

EARL J. WITMER, Primary Examiner. 

